www.nzfisher.co.nz 1

f sherISSUE 14 January 2012

Top spot No. 3: The Bay of Plenty

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October Landbased Magic

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Pg 4

8

12SPORTFISHING

4 R’oktober Fish 2011

8 A Nooby’s View:

Rocktober Fish 2011

KAYAKFISHING

10 MyFirstEverKingfish

12 Reader Pics

13 Fishing Video of the Month &

Jetski Fishing

FISHINGSPOTS

14 The Bay of Plenty

18 Regional ReviewsPg 14

CONTENTS

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Pg 14

The wind blows and the rain falls.

Not an ancient Chinese mantra but a

modern fishers lament. We’ve been so

spoilt now for the last five or six years

the weather has been patchy at worst,

but generally there have been some

extended fine spells allowing us time

to wet a line; this year however it’s

been rain and wind at every turn. That

is not to say that plenty of fish have

not been caught or that there are not

more resilient types out there anyways!

I trust you have all still had ample

chance to relax and spend time with

your families over the Christmas &

New Year break – earning plenty of

brownie points for later on when

you’ll need them when it’s really

fishing season!

This month we have a report from

new Kiwi Forbes Taylor, another

recent Scottish émigré with a growing

passion for fishing. Forbes answered

the call for keen fishos to join us on the

R’Ocktober fish weekend & his story

of the successes he had embodies just

what NZFisher is all about.

As I complete the copy for January

there are Marlin & even Yellow Fin

Tuna showing up at weigh stations

around the country including a

stunning 375kg black Marlin landed

by beni hafoka aboard ‘Jans

Decision’ out of Tauranga. Big Black

Marlin are not very common in NZ

and this one was even more out of

character, taking a towed lure not a

livebait which they’re known for.

There’s a new Recreational Fisheries

management fundraising machine

making its presence known called

LegaSea (“Bringing back the

bite to ADVOCACY, RESEARCH,

EDUCATION & working TOGETHER)

and they’re officially launching on the

9th of February. For more info see

www.legasea.co.nz.

The NZFisher Boat is progressing &

we are looking forward to getting

her wet for the first time early next

month. The team at Sportcraft Boats

have been awesome, making the

changes we’re looking for & guiding

us on the best options for what we’re

after – watch this space!

All going well we’ll have some great fish

and even better stories to tell from the

new boat, but in the mean time enjoy

issue one of 2012!

Tight lines,

Derrick

//From the

EDITOR

editorial

ABOUT /Short and sharp, NZ Fisher is a free e-magazine delivering thought provoking and enlightening articles, and industry news and information to forward-thinking fisher people.

EDITOR / Derrick PaullART DIRECTOR / Jodi OlssonGROUP EDITOR / Trudi CaffellCONTENT ENQUIRIES / Phone Derrick on 021 629 327or email derrickp@NZ Fisher.co.nzADVERTISING ENQUIRIES /Phone Richard on 09 522 7257 or email richardl@espiremedia.comADDRESS / NZ Fisher, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162, Parnell, Auckland 1151, NZWEBSITE / www.NZ Fisher.co.nz

Cover Image: Main image: Saul Harman graces our cover for the second time with a 10kg plus snapper caught & released at Cape KarikariInset: Forsyth Thompson with a released snapper – estimated 20lbs

This is a GREEN MAG, created and distrib-uted without the use of paper so it's envi-ronmentally friendly. Please think before

you print. Thank you!

story by derrick Paull

Photos by scott & saul harman,

Forsyth Thompson

sportFISHING

The after affect of a near death experience for Saul & Scot

Those who like to target big

snapper from the rocks in the

upper north know that there is no

better month to chase monsters

from the rocks than October. These

big fish come into the reefs prior

to spawning to feed up & in some

cases take up residency. Their pre-

spawning feed-up plays right into

our hands as we lob big smelly baits

to their waiting mouths – or at least

that was the theory!

NZFisher contributor Forsyth T of

Digital Hothouse came up with the

plan to head north & we spun a plan

to introduce NZFisher’s’ first ever

competition – R’Ocktober fish. We

chose Whatuwhiwhi on Cape Karikari

as the base due to its access to the

best landbased territory in the north

and the comfort of the Whatuwhiwhi

Top 10 motor camp (by comfort we

mean the best filleting facility this side

of anywhere....)

The weather gods frowned upon us as

the wind was forecast out of the only

corner that cramped the options and

in the week leading up, the forecast

sou-easter looked ominous.

Fifteen hardy rock-hoppers headed

north on the last Friday of October,

despite of the forecast. There was

excitement before we even arrived

with a couple of the crew tangling

with a truck outside of Kawakawa.

Thankfully there was no serious injury

but the truck was a right off

R’Ocktober Fish 2011

Hardcore Landbased

www.nzfisher.co.nz 5

sportFISHING

Scott with a pair of pre-comp snaps from the Tokerau shallows]er

To make up for their poor fortune

Scott & Saul headed out for a pre-

comp softbait fish and came back with

a couple of very healthy Doubtless

Bay snaps for tea for the crew.

The first day started very early with one

team hitting the water an hour before

dawn and heading north to seek their

fortunes around the Cape Islands.

I headed to the more sheltered (but

it felt very exposed) southern side

of the peninsula with Forsyth and

Ian in the Baby Stabi. The conditions

were not ideal & we were limited to

access points.

The fishing started off well and

continued to improve throughout

the morning. There were personal

bests & bust-offs on a regular basis

and the cameras took a hammering.

The only one not setting new

standards was me!

At around 11 Forsyth decided it

was time for a break. He biffed out

monster mackerel bait and headed

up the rocks to get a bite to eat. As

nature will have it, that was when

the fish of the day hit. The water was

deep and relatively clear of snags

but Forsyth’s fish had no intention

of making things easy. The big swell

and lack of lateral movement saw him

clamouring & stretching to keep his

line off the rocks.

Once beaten, it was up to novice

gaff-man Karl (who had previous

bait landed his new PB of 10 odd

“ThOse whO like TO TaRgeT big snappeR FROm The ROcks in The uppeR nORTh knOw ThaT TheRe is nO beTTeR mOnTh TO chase mOnsTeRs FROm The ROcks Than OcTObeR.”

6 www.nzfisher.co.nz

sportFISHING

Forsyth’s 20

www.nzfisher.co.nz 7

pounds!) to dodge the swells & net

the fish. He did a stellar job and a

hefty 78cm Snapper was hoisted up

for photographing & release. As the

R’Ocktober Fish rules allowed for

both released (once length measured

& photographed) Forsyth chose to

release his fish. It is likely that it was

over 20lbs, but that’s the beauty of

catch & release – he’s pretty coy, but

you just know some times.

The fishing barely slowed for the

rest of the day. While the sizes were

generally smaller the average was

probably still around five pounds. A

few flirtations fly by’s from a pack of

bored kings kept the enthusiasm high

but by five we were ready and happy

to head back.

We learned back at Camp that the

fishing had been similar for everyone

and the other guys were all coy about

their results.

A few beers and rums later though

and the truth came out. Saul Harman

(NZF issue 9 ‘coverboy’) had landed

yet another Northland monster that

measured in excess of the rulers 75 cm

at close to 85cm. The boys weighed it

at 10kg+ and sent it on its way. At well

over 80cm this was easily the best fish

of the day and sadly no kingfish were

weighed at all.

For more info on Saul’s fish check out

his write up on the NZ Landbased

game website.

After cleaning up our fish, Forsyth

and I headed out for a quick softbait

session before dinner. We only

needed a couple for dinner & were

back at the beach in no time – gotta

love this place!

Day two was a much slower start –

probably due to the excess of rums,

but that’s no real excuse. Sadly the

fishing matched out moods, slow. The

weather was worsening and we spent

less time on the rocks than we’d have

liked. It really is incredible what a

difference a day can make.

Over all the competition was a

success. Weather withstanding

the results from day one were

outstanding. I heard of many

personal bests and tall stories from

all quarters. What was interesting

was that on both days the fishing

was the same for all groups,

regardless of terrain or location –

hard hits, lots of fish and good sizes.

Day two was the opposite and no

one had anything like the fishing of

the day before – puzzling.

As a competition we learned a few

things, especially about how to run a

catch & release competition and we’re

keen to run more – keep an eye out &

join in if you get the chance!

sportFISHING

8 www.nzfisher.co.nz

The R’ockTobeR Fish competition

was a first the first landbased fishing

for me in NZ. I’ve only been in the

country about 18 months so I was

really excited to get amongst it. I

have invested in a kayak for fishing in

the Waitemata and bought it up to

access the rocks. On day one I was

given a lift out by Forsyth on his ‘Baby

Stabi’. I’ve only ever walked in to rock

fishing spots, so getting taken in to

some fairly inaccessible ledges on the

baby Stabi was exciting in itself. I felt

a bit like an intrepid explorer!

I was dropped off with Ariel & we got

set up in a fairly short time as most

of the fiddling about had been done

the night before over a few beers. I

got taught some new fishing knots

on the spot by Ariel and the first bait

was soon in the water. Next was the

burley, in to the onion sack and hung

down the rocks to bash itself around

in the swell and do its thing. Then,

as with most trips, we waited in

anticipation. It didn’t take long before

the Kahawai turned up in the burley

a nooby’s View: Rocktober Fish 2011by Forbes Taylor

sportFISHINGEtienne & fine BOP King

Ariel’s first blood from the shallows Credit: Forbes Taylor

www.nzfisher.co.nz 9

sportFISHING

trail. I rigged up my second set

with a small silver lure and flicked it

out. First cast nothing. Second cast,

bang! All on just like that! I then

tried to wind it in, only to find out

the reel was buggered and wouldn’t

wind in at all. I ended up hand lining

the fish in but it was good to be on

the board early on and have some

fresh bait to use.

After that it was a pretty constant

flow of respectable fish coming

in, just not the monsters we were

there for. Maybe 2 hours in Ariel’s

reel started screaming and line was

peeling off at a great rate. Finally

in to a good sized fish! A couple of

runs later the fish is alongside the

rocks and I am in charge of the long

handled gaff. I’ve never used one

before, so was bloody nervous as I’ve

heard this is where it can go horribly

wrong. Strangely enough I handled

it like a pro and it was high fives and

whoops all round.

The fishing went really quite for about

90 mins over slack tide, so when

a load of bait fish turned up in the

burley trail I got the sabikis out and

hooked in to a few yellow eyed mullet

to use as live baits.

As I’m fishing for the mullet,

all of a sudden they all sod off

really quickly. Then I see right

at the back of them, a massive

kingfish. Ariel called it for 20kg

easily – I thought it was f**king

enormous! Unfortunately we didn’t

have the kingi gear ready, so he was

gone as quickly as he arrived. Ariel

got his stickbaiting gear set up and

was chucking that in the water like

it was going out of fashion. His bait

rod then started twitching, so he

handed it to me and asked me to

deal with it. Turned out it was

an under-sized snapper that

got it within 5m of the rock

before the water behind it

just exploded!! The kingi was

back and trying to monster

the snapper.

It then caught sight of Ariel’s

stickbait and bang! He was

hooked. A 5 minute tussle

ensued, but at no point was

Ariel in charge of the fish,

blistering runs and heaps of

line out. Then he got

reefed and the kingi

was away. Once we

calmed down it was

back to business as

usual.

I rigged up one of the

mullet, but it looked

like it wasn’t going to

make it. So I decided

to drop it in the water

to see if it would

swim at all. Watched

it sink slowly to the

bottom twitching its

death throes. Just as

it’s about to hit the

bottom, a big snapper

comes floating out of the kelp and

spies my mullet. Just to tease me, he

makes a couple of lazy passes before

deciding to munch on it. By this time

I am screaming like a girl watching this

all unfold.

Using as much composure as I can

muster, I let the snapper munch on

it, swallow it, then swim slowly away

then - Strike! All on, but the snapper

doesn’t even really seem to realise that

he’s hooked yet and keeps swimming

off towards the kelp, a couple of twists

of the drag and he suddenly wakes

up and he’s off down the gut towards

the open sea, a couple of respectable

runs later, he was mine. I got him to

the surface and brought him over to

the rocks. Ariel had the gaff and at

this point I thought I was going to lose

the fish (no wonder gaff-men get sooo

much grief!).

Ariel took 8 attempts before he

actually managed to get it in

properly. Cue much shouting and

high fives. A personal best snapper for

me. It went 64cms long and was a real

dark kelpy coloured fish. Beautiful!

Forbes New PB

10 www.nzfisher.co.nz

kayakFISHING

by Roelof du Plessis

i Find kayak Fishing highly

rewarding – even a slow day’s fishing is

worth the effort after a good paddle, a

beautiful sunrise, and some “my-time”

in nature. Don’t get me wrong; off

course it is better if you come home

with fresh fish to feed the troops…

The pristine waters in the Bay Of

Islands offer so many opportunities

for a great day on the water, and

my mates are well aware that it’s my

favourite fishing grounds.

Last year something big picked up my

soft-bait on a 6 kg spinning setup, took

off like a hot rod and smashed my rod.

Because of all the rat kingies in the

water, I made up my mind that it must

have been a good sized kingie, and I

was determined to go back, prepared

to take the hooligan square on…

So early in November this year I

pulled together 6 good mates and

headed off to the same beach. They

were all well aware that snapper was

secondary on my agenda – my plan

for the weekend was simple: Catch my

first legal-sized kingie from the kayak.

I had the right gear this time round,

and was in a very positive frame of

mind. Being mentally triggered is a

good thing – that’s usually a good

starting point to any fishing trip…

My first cast early Saturday morning

landed me a nice kahawai, and in

less than a minute it was blissfully

back in the water – this time under a

shimmering pink party balloon which

I scored from my 8-year-old daughter

the previous day…

While the kahawai was doing its thing,

I landed some good-sized snapper

and my mates were all doing great on

the snapper and trevally. After about

an hour, the kahawai just gave a short

krrrrrr on the bait-runner, but a quick

check revealed only the balloon, now

sporting a totally frayed 200 lb leader…

nothing else. So sharks were also

operating in the area, and I knew that

if I was going to get hooked up on a

kingfish, there was a very good chance

of it being eaten by the taxman.

I spent the rest of Saturday trying out

various jigs, poppers and lures, but

got no kingfish-action.

Sunday morning most of us had our

lines in the water by sunrise – another

beautiful day was breaking. The

kahawai were cunning as ever, and I

just couldn’t manage to keep one on

the line long enough to land it in the

boat. The snapper was taking really

well on soft-bait, but my mind was set

on the hot-spot where I got busted

last year. However, that was about

30 minutes’ paddle further off-shore,

and the south-westerly was picking

up. Since we were planning to vacate

our accommodation around midday,

I gave up on the idea, and by 9 a.m.

I started the 2 km paddle back to the

beach. As usual I casted out a line

behind me to trawl a soft-bait.

At 9:05 I stopped briefly in 17 metres

of water to adjust my sounder... “Nek

minnit”… all hell broke loose behind

my First ever Kingfish

My first Kingi - and on soft baits!

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kayakFISHING

me. I grabbed the 8kg spinning rod

out of the holder, and so began the

fish-fight of my life. The line was

peeling off my brand new Penn

Conquer 5000 at an alarming rate, but

I knew the drag was set just right for

the rod, so couldn’t dare fiddle with it.

The braid was running low on the

reel, and the kayak was on a steady

pace towards an island which was

behind me until about a minute

before. The fish changed direction a

couple of times with me reeling like

mad, retrieving almost all the line in

a matter of seconds, only to head off

straight pass me, every time peeling

off more braid than before. I kept the

rod pointing towards the bow of my

kayak, which kept the boat following

the fish in every direction.

After about 10 minutes I was slowing

down, and felt confident that I could

deploy the drogue without getting

spooled completely. At that stage I

had no idea what was at the end of

the line, but off course all the time

hoping that it was that kingie I came

for. The fish was steadily making

way towards the island, and when I

reached the 7-metre mark, my worst

fear was confirmed: I could feel that

sickening vibration on the rod of

the braid being wrapped around

structure. The sounder still showed

a sandy bottom, so I felt pretty

confident that I was wrapped up in

kelp. I backed off the drag slightly,

allowing the fish to peel off even

more line, and my plan worked: the

braid cut through the kelp, and soon

a huge bush of kelp popped to the

surface. I turned the drag back on,

but knew that I had to get out of the

shallows, as the rocks were looming

just 50 metres away... That’s when I

asked my good mate Dave, who was

close by all the way, to hook a line on

my boat and paddle us out of there.

He managed to tow me to about the

15-metre mark. Thanks Dave!

About 40 minutes had passed when

the fish started to surface, and for

the first time we could see the silver

beauty with the yellow tail glow in the

sunlight. “It’s a kingie!!”

At that moment the next rush of

adrenaline kicked in, as I realised

that any sharks in the neighbourhood

would be calling in any minute to

check out the commotion under the

water, and demand their share.

Another good friend, Arnold, was

also close by the whole time, and

took some photos. It took another 20

minutes, and 3 attempts with the gaff,

before I had the fish on my lap. What

a relief!! I got on the VHF and asked

the rest of the boys: “How do you

iki a kingfish??” The answer over the

airwaves was more of a “Yeeehaaa!!”

than anything else. I ended up not

dispatching the fish, since after it gave

me exactly an hour of the best fight of

my life; it was even more wasted than

I was. I put the fish in the back of my

‘yak, opened a cold Coke, and started

the paddle back to the beach.

The kingie weighed in at 15.2 kg.

I received a crash-course on “how

to fillet a kingie” and it fed 6 big

families… What an awesome ending

to a great weekend.

Latched on

Nearly there

What a feeling!

12 www.nzfisher.co.nz

Ocky Blignaut of the Hibiscus Kayak Fishing Club landed this monster snapper at Moturoa Island, Kawau Bay

READERpics

This is Nine year old Andy Marmont, with a 5.27kg Snapper he nailed while rock fishing with his dad Geoff in the Bay of Islands

Jesse proves that you don’t need a flash boat or flash gear to get into some stunning Mahi-mahi – this one was caught off a commercial

(not a fishing boat) boat travelling between NZ & Aussie. They were 30 feet in the air & best of all – it was caught on a hand line!

heRe’s a couPle of pics from

keen readers with a passion for the

sport! Please send us in your photos

whenever you get into some nice fish

(or if you have any funny pics you think

we’d like to put out into the world!) Click here to email your photos

Espire Media founder Richard with his best snapper to date. To be fair, he’s definitely not a fisho – but we can see room for improvement!

www.nzfisher.co.nz 13

VIDEO

wow –This is possibly the most

beautifully shot underwater video I

have yet seen on the web. Check out

this incredible video of Marlin (&

other species) destroying a bait ball

off southern baja.

In response to the positive feedback

on issue 13’s Jet Ski special, here’s

a link from JetSkiFishingchannel

on setting up a jet ski. And for a

bit of snapper nailing action, check

out Andrew Hill of Jetskifishing.

co.nz latching on to a solid

Northland snapper from his yamaha

waveRunner. Check

out more videos from

Andrew at

www.jetskifishing.co.nz

And for the inshore

fishers, check out

this local clip – a 25lb

Snapper on softbaits

just 30 minutes from

downtown Auckland. It’s

not the most exciting of

videos, but really shows

how amazing NZ’s inshore fisheries

really are!

Fishing Video of the month

check ouT Andrew’s

latest report here.

As always the guys on

the skis are having a ball,

but the results are even

better than down in their

normal hunting grounds

in the gulf.

Jet ski Fishing

Respectable Far north Snapper on New Penny Grub

14 www.nzfisher.co.nz

The bay oF PlenTy was such named

by Captain James Cook in 1770, but

has been home to Maori for much

longer (Est. 1290AD). The Maori name

for the Bay is Te Moana-a-Toi (The

sea of Toi), in reference to an early

Maori explorer, Toi-te-Huatahi. Captain

Cook’s naming of the area refers to

the abundance of food and wealth

experienced by his crew on arriving

from the Hawke’s Bay where he had

noted a lack of such abundance (Hence

he named it Poverty Bay).

The Bay of Plenty stretches on from

Coromandel to East Cape on the

Eastern side of the North Island. It’s

a very large area extending almost

250km from north to west and

encompasses some of New Zealand’s

finest near shore game fisheries.

The fishing history of the bay is rich

& colourful; the original Tauranga

Game Fishing Clubrooms were

situated at South

East Bay, Mayor

Island from 1953

until 1991. There

are a number of

fishing clubs in the

bay including the

largest fishing club

(by membership) in

New Zealand, the

Whakatane Sport

Fishing Club. This

concentration of

fishing attention

may seem high, but

the City of Tauranga

boasts a population

of just over

100,000 residents.

By international

standards the Pay of Plenty is remote

and virtually un-populated!

Almost all recreational target fish

species can be caught in the Bay,

from 1000lb Blue Marlin to humble

Blue cod, the bay’s geography

offers scope for almost all types of

fishing. In spring and summer the

fish population swells as Kahawai,

skippies & snapper move in and

fishingSPOTS

The bay of plentyby derrick Paull

The stunning Bay of Plenty as seen from Mount Maunganui. Credit: Tourism Bay of Plenty

www.nzfisher.co.nz 15

south from their winter hideouts.

Many national and world records

have been claimed here, such as

this 442.8kg blue Marlin caught

from a trailer boat out of Waihau

Bay. While not a national record, the

375kg Black Marlin landed aboard

Jans Decision this week is another

example of the great fish attracted

to the Bay.

Internationally the Bay of Plenty is

most recognised for its amazing

yellowtail kingfish fishery. Historically

focussing on White Island &

surrounds the kingfish fishery is now

established from East Cape right up

to the Alderman Islands off Tairua in

the North. (Technically Coromandel).

Both all tackle world records for

Kingfish (Yes there are two fish

weighed at exactly the same weight

– 52.00 kg or 114 pounds!) have

been landed from the Bay of Plenty,

testament to some amazing fishing

that thousands of Kiwis head to the

bay annually to chase.

Tag & release fishing is the norm

now for large gamefish with over

50% of the Bays large gamefish

being released each year, but the

numbers of kingfish released

is a staggering 80%. Charter

stalwarts like Rick Pollock have

been preaching the catch &

release ethos for many years but

it is now virtually expected by

most that the majority of their fish

will be released.

Zane from Pursuit with a 50kg kingfish

One of NZFisher’s favourite local

haunts is Mayor (Tuhua) Island.

I’ve experienced kingfish fishing

here like nowhere else – even the

Thee kings Islands didn’t deliver

the kind of action that Mark from

extreme sportfishing adventures

put us onto at Mayor island. Pack

attached of 50 kingfish chasing stick

baits here is not unheard of. If you

have the time & finances we highly

recommend a day aboard with Mark

or down at White Island with Rick

Pollock on board Pursuit.

Fishing in the bay isn’t just about

monsters. The staple fisheries are

tarakihi & snapper, both of which

are seasonal and complement each

other – as one wanes the other

comes on the bite. The snapper

fishery is not recognised for its

monsters, but the Bay of Plenty

is home of the largest weighed

snapper ever landed on rod & reel.

This 17.2kg (37.8 pounds) monster

was landed by nZ sport Fishing

council Vice President Mark

Hemmingway in the shallows off

Motiti Island just a few miles off Mt

Maunganui. Sadly Motiti Island is only

few miles away from the stranded

Rena and may have been impacted

by the oil & debris that Rena has

spilled over the last four months. We

live in hope.

“almOsT all RecReaTiOnal TaRgeT Fish species can be caughT in The bay, FROm 1000lb blue maRlin TO humble blue cOd, The bay’s geOgRaphy OFFeRs scOpe FOR almOsT all Types OF Fishing.”

fishingSPOTS

16 www.nzfisher.co.nz

If you’re looking for a spot to go

with the Family the Bay of Plenty

also offers more than just fishing and

diving. Check out Tourism Bay of

Plenty’s website for some great local

attractions and accommodation.

There are several islands

located within a short distance

from the coast that offer

more than just fishing.

Tuhua (Mayor Island) has had the

conservation status of a wildlife refuge

since 1953. A marine reserve was

created off the northern end of the

island in 1993. The water clarity means a

wide range of marine plants thrive and

there is a great diversity of fish. Walking

tracks around the island provide access

to points of interest. This is a privately

owned island contact Tuhua Trust Board

for permission to visit. Ring +64 7 577

0942 or ericar@xtra.co.nz. For more

information contact the Department of

Conservation (DOC) on +64 7 578 7677.

New Zealand’s only active marine

volcano, Whakaari (White Island) is

an amazing natural phenomenon.

Located off the coast of Whakatane,

the volcano offers a once in a lifetime

experience of walking on an active

marine volcano. White Island is

estimated to be between 100,000 and

200,000 years old and is a hissing,

steaming and roaring ecological

wonder. The surface of the island is

similar to a scene out of a ‘Star Wars’

movie with craters, sheer cliff faces

and cracks and tunnels in the surface

with steam hissing out of them like a

kettle at boiling point.

Motiti Island is located 15 kilometres

from the coastal areas in the region.

It’s a largely flat island that covers

nearly 10 square kilometres of land

and has very few residents. The island

Motiti Island

fishingSPOTS

www.nzfisher.co.nz 17

is mainly used for agriculture, though

there are private beaches to explore.

Popular for a great surf break,

Matakana Island is 20 kilometres

long. The majority of the island

is forest, and most of the roads

are privately owned. The only

transportation to the island is a

barge, which leaves either from

Sulphur Point in Tauranga or

Omokoroa. Although a quiet,

beautiful island, there are no

accommodation options available,

and only a small village of residents.

Permits are required to use the roads.

White Island

Zane from Pursuit with a 50kg Kingfish Photo: Rick Pollack

The Rena

fishingSPOTS

18 www.nzfisher.co.nz

Whoa– slow down, Dancer, Prancer

how did that happen? Christmas –

again so soon?! Yes it’s that great

time of year when everything about

going fishing can be so easily justified,

with weather on the improve (even if

slowly), school holidays, time off work,

sunshine, enjoying the summer sun out

on the water and around the beaches.

Not to mention the snapper schools

ever so closer within reach of everyone,

land-based to mega launch, it’s all

good really so bring on the summer.

The past few weeks out in the Hauraki

Gulf have seen mako’s flipping

out, orcas hunting, brydes whales

enveloping great swathes of baitfish,

dolphins surfing, snapper kingfish

hungry-as, and then in an instant,

absolutely nothing ______ same day.

The range of action on any day is

anywhere from enjoying a leisurely

coffee ‘cos there’s not much else to

do to absolute fishing mayhem with

everyone hooked up battling big hard

charging fish.

Western shores of the gulf are

providing some XL snapper around the

shorelines, just beyond the breakers

of beaches, on the sand and shallower

reefy areas like Tarapunga rock/Kawau.

5-10m is holding well – let evening

stealth be your friend as these guys are

pretty wary and quite cunning.

Many schoolies of the 40-50cm kind

are spread around most of the gulf

now, the snapper seem to be moving

around a lot along with the various

bait schools.

For example the yellow tailed

mackerel schools have been getting

hounded by kingfish in the 35m

depth, not far out at all.

The juvenile kingfish are stunning to

look at and a blast to do battle with

– look after them carefully with a net

and put gently back they’re good to go

but don’t hold up by the tail –this can

dislocate their vertebrae apparently.

Kingfish are everywhere there’s a

workup (or surface kahawai school) so

throw down the gauntlet like a big jig,

or a small/medium kahawai livie, or a

mackerel…well everything will nail that!

You will have no idea what you might

hook up…a mako, a thresher, a

snapper, a kingfish…who knows but

when the action is hot it’s blistering!

Just north of the Noises and directly

east of Tiri outside the No Fishing Zone

has been a go-to for a few weeks now,

and should continue to be successful

for many boats in the 5m range on the

good weather days.The Catch Piper on

fast retrieve nailed this kingi on nice ‘n

light 6lb tackle last week.

king hitsYes the kingfish are quite prolific

around the bait schools in the gulf and

a ‘by catch’ when fishing away from a

workup, by away I mean say several

hundred metres. Often the key to

catching bigger fish and more variety

is to let workups move away from you.

You will catch less kahawai as they

tend to feed right in the middle and

some bigger snapper say around

15lbs are hanging back along with

schools of kingfish.

If you see a whale surface, take care

and move over to the general area

quietly, turn your sounder off, drop a

line down and hang on there’s often

some target species hanging with the

big boy. If you have a live mackerel,

send it down for a recon’.

Kahawai – these fish never cease

to amaze with their sheer strength

and pure low down grunt all the way

to the boat, they never give up. A

good looking streamlined fish when

streaking around the boat as you try in

vain to slow them down. Many people

mistakenly deride kahawai, me - I think

they are brilliant and worth treating

with respect like every other fish out

there (O.K. apart from ‘couta, but

there has to be a bad guy right).

Great to see the bigger kahawai

around, aggressively feeding at times

from surface to sea floor, and to be

honest they are particularly good

to make smoked fish pie and pate’

extraordinaire for the pre-BBQ beer

accompaniment. Worth catching

and keeping a few, icing-down

immediately helps maintain the best

flavour. Big schools of them surface

feeding just off southern Flat Rock and

just east of the Ahaa’s lately.

it ain’t half hotHot as hell fishing on most days

this past month and the bin-filling

possibilities have been numerous.

When the fish are feeding they are

absolutely ravenous. Workups are still

short lived and fast moving due to the

inability of the predators to round up

and hold the various baitschools. But

no matter any surface action spotted,

stop drop and roll as they say.

Anything sitting on the surface like

any type of bird - drop a soft plastic

like the little Catch Anchovy and get

hauraki gulfsource: espresso www.catch.org.nz

regionalREVIEWS

www.nzfisher.co.nz 19

ready, it’s amazing how many times

this works when the vhf is crackling

with grumblings of the fish not biting,

or try a flasher rig with a whole

anchovy bait. Match the hatch holds

true. So when it’s all ‘not happening’

the drift and everything is slow,

I tend to go to my little spin reel and

a ½ to 1oz Torpedo hook with a small

Anchovy or Glow Squid...let it waft

down the water column to the fish

hugging the bottom – presentation

is the key and a gentle tug at the

line to show ebbing life and struggle

means CHOMP! Surprisingly how big

the snapper are that annihilate the

little anchovies – the better and more

realistic the presentation, the bigger

and more fish.

Clean and easy peasy…oh and a

helluva fight too! Check the bite time,

use your eyes to scout surface activity

and sounder (if you have one) and

if there are lazy gannets, birds and

dolphins in the area, don’t leave they

know something you don’t.

Big flappy lures like the Glowing

Gecko and Red Cray (or whole real

pilchard baits) are the choice when

snapper are biting well, you’ll tend

to get the bigger fish in this situation

when you use them. When it’s all gone

quiet change out to a little Catch

anchovy, you can even add Secret

Sauce into the special body cavity flap

of the soft plastics if you wish.

gamersYes the big game guys are chomping

at the leader – the tuna and marlin

swim ever closer to within reach of

the recreational fisho, great news for

those of us afflicted with the big game

virus. This year should be good again

looking at the sea currents already,

here’s hoping the first recreational

regionalREVIEWS

coromandel source: carl Muir www.epicadventures.co.nz

whaT and ePic start to the year!

Not only some awesome kingfish

jigging but we managed to bag a

56kg bass today!

Hobbie from Sydney was the lucky

angler and nailed it on a JMPE10

reel with 100lb braid and an

Amberjack Sniper JM rod. He was

seriously railed on this fish needing

close to 30kg of drag to keep it from

the reef. We caught the fish out the

back of Red Merc.

We’ve had some keen crews out

over the last week, including a gun

crew of Japanese jiggers who slayed

it on the jigs with fish to 25kg taking

jigs and a few broken rods thrown in

for good measure!

These Japanese anglers sure know

how to jig; a very different action

and it certainly produced some fine

fish during their trip.

Livebaits are easy to get at the

moment right up and down the

coast and are producing some

quality fish, like this 24kg specimen

with expat Kiwi Hunty who was back

from Singapore for Xmas and nailed

a nice new PB kingfish yesterday.

Along the coast with the baits

schools there is some good

stickbaiting and top water kingfish

opportunities and we’ve been

having some fun catching kingfish in

the shallows in the morning before

heading out wide jigging.

For a full report from the last two

weeks and plenty more cool pics

click on our full report from on

board Epic here.

marlin is officially landed in the next

few days and many of us get our

Christmas wish of monster marlin boat

side over summer.

Maybe even one from the Hauraki

Gulf this year? Let’s hope the Skipjack

tuna survive the trawler gauntlet

and make it into the gulf again this

summer, time will tell.

more good newsThe inner channels around Rangi have

been slow to fill with fish, but just this

past week with the easterly winds

and warmer water creeping into the

volcano environs the fish have picked

up the pace and just announced

their arrival both sides of Rangi, the

Motuihe Channel and in towards

the bridge. Good sized snapper are

ready and waiting for the 12ftrs to

get right in amongst, nice and close

to downtown and North Shore,

some good catches reported off the

Devonport wharf too!

While the water has struggled to get

up to temp, an 18 degrees it finally is,

the breeding has just started by the

looks and feeding habits of the snapper,

lots of bites/scuff marks on them and

their hunger is intermittent, so when

it’s on it is ALL ON, the feeding frenzy

is ferocious. Similarly when the feeding

is off, it makes for very picky fish with

other things on their mind.

And finally those inspirational YouTube

clips from this past year for when

you’re not out fishing enjoy.

www.catch.org.nz

20 www.nzfisher.co.nz

Fish

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Looks like summer, feels like summer, acts like summer, and smells like summer – not quite summer yet! Many manifestations of the warm months are upon us in so many ways yet we are still lacking the main ingredient – pelagic gamefish!

Plenty of precursory imitations (albies/skippies) are about, it must be meaningful. Still no cigar but can’t be far away. Otherwise there’s everything we could want available most everywhere else, and plenty of.

inshore

After the brilliant spring we’ve experienced, things have gone off the boil over the past few weeks. Still some decent catches are coming in with most everyone getting that all important “feed” to justify the day out but things are comparatively lacklustre. Snapper still the main goal for most anglers although more turning to terakihi and gurnard to supply the goods. Crays moving into the shallows for divers, some in ridiculously (waist deep) shallow water this time of year.

Offshore

Talk about heating up, some aspects are on fire – including the island! Still plenty of nauseous stain provoking gas being emitted from the lake less crater now. Visiting boats beware, you won’t like the result of even an hour spent in the less if the island, let along overnight – quite a price t pay for some good fishing! If you can’t get over that malady then all you need to do is enjoy! Kingfish are biting as well, or better, than they have all season with some brilliant sessions over the past week.

Jigs are still out of favour but bait, any kind of bait, is doing the trick. Unlike the early season which saw smaller fish on average, the reverse is now in vogue. While no monsters succumbed this week (largest a credible 28 kilos) the average size has stepped up considerably with many fish over 20kgs and numerous in the mid 20’s. Would appear they are now in full spawning mode, something that should continue for another few weeks if

not longer. Expect some brilliant surface action as fish move into the shallows wholesale. Otherwise there’s nothing wrong with the other fisheries, thank you very much.

Deepwater continues to pump out the catches with a pleasing mixture of bluenose, hapuka, bass and bluenose. While most of these fish are of modest size (sub 10 kilos), there are just enough over 20 and even 30kgs to test anglers and make things interesting. Long may this situation last as its retrieved fishing we once had but thought was long gone. For those that don’t care to plumb the depths we have plenty to offer you in the shallows starting with trevally. Large shoals of krill feeding trevs can now be seen each day in a number of areas around the island.

Just because you can see them, however, doesn’t mean you can catch em! Matching the hatch doesn’t always work as sometimes you need to think outside the square to initiate a hookup! Water colour and temps are screaming summer; blue (nearly purple in places) with quite a few skippies moving in to join the pre existing albacore ranks. Plenty to do out there but still scope for improvement. Plenty of mako sharks have appeared among the skippies and albies.

Ranfurly bank

The superlative fishing we have seen here over the past months just keeps going. Bottom fishing, in particular, continues to excel. Hapuka, bass, trumpeter and king terakihi are all biting well at numerous posies across the bank. Puka of mixed size are arriving at the surface in doubleheader proportions. While most are small (6-8kgs) to medium (15k’s) average, some beaut bass are present and available.

A good example was father and son team Warrick and Sam Moore. On one drift Warrick struggled to land his largest fish ever with a nuggety, grumpy 34k bass. While he was celebrating his capture son Sam hooked what appeared to be the bottom on the very next drift.

After quite a battle he watched his over inflated beach ball of a bass float to the surface. At 48k’s the Moore’s had themselves two fine fish to cap off their trip. Kingis, while still offering great action, were not as prolific. With some nice fish landed just over 30k’s, the average size was far smaller. Unlike White Island, jigs are working exceedingly well – even surpassing the efficacy of live bait! While water quality is a mixed bag, there’s far more blue and warm stuff than the cold, green counterpart. Skippies, and to a lesser extent, albacore, are thick. They both require much larger lures or even lures out of the water if you think you’re going anywhere! They are in great abundance from 50 metres of water off Lottin Point all the way through to Ranfurly in all depths from 80 to over 1000 metres. Getting the drift? – There’s a lot out there!!

summaryAs we pass Christmas, zero in on New Years and focus on summer ahead there’s plenty to be joyous about in every regard. Great to see so many on the water on Boxing Day utilising their new toys – locals and holiday makers alike. Weather has been kind with more of the same expected at least on the short term.

Bring it on to everyone’s benefit, except maybe the fish! With the first marlin landed (on the West Coast of all places!), others seen in the western BOP and decent chances at tuna of two different varieties it’s all on with prospects improving literally by the day. On a sad note we must report the passing of a grand gentleman named Mick Ellwood. Mick was “Mr Whitianga” whom everyone knew and loved. He saw and did a lot during his long life and it was very fitting to see him land such a fantastic blue marlin last season and very rightfully take out the “Old Man of the Sea” trophy. His presence will be sadly missed by all on the water with the utmost condolences to Dulcie and the rest of the family. Won’t be back with another report for a wee while – till then

Far north source: Rick Pollock www.Pursuit.co.nz

regionalREVIEWS

www.nzfisher.co.nz 21

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